听力文摘：火柴

Yael，What are you trying to do?

雅埃尔，你在干嘛？

I'm trying to strike this match on the fire place,so I can start a fire.

我正试图划燃火柴点燃壁炉，这样我就能有火了。

Are you using the right kind of match?

你用对火柴了吗？

What do you mean?Isn't a match a match?

你是什么意思？火柴不就是火柴吗？

Nope,There are two different types: safety matches and strike-anywhere matches.

大错特错，目前有两种不同的火柴：安全火柴，和那一种在哪里划一下都可以点燃的火柴。

Safety matches are the kind that light only when struck on the striking¹ surface on the side of a matchbox.

所谓安全火柴，指的就是那种只有在火柴盒表面特定的，某一个可以划燃火柴的区域上才能点燃的火柴。

A striking surface consists of sand, powdered glass, and a chemical called red phosphorus.

这样的易燃表面是由沙子、玻璃粉、和一种叫做红磷的化学物质构成。

The tip of a safety match is made of glass powder, sulfur², and an oxidizing agent–a chemical necessary to keep a flame burning.

而火柴头是由玻璃粉，硫磺和一种氧化剂组成-这种氧化剂则是保持火苗能持续燃烧的必需化学物质。

When a safety match scrapes³ against a striking surface, the glass powder on the striking surface and match head rub⁴ together, creating enough heat to turn a bit of the red phosphorus on the striking surface into white phosphorus.

当你用一根安全火柴去摩擦这个易燃的表面时，表面的玻璃粉和火柴头相互摩擦，然后产生出了足够的热量，该热量可以使得易燃表面的红磷转化成为白磷。

The white phosphorus ignites⁵ in air, passing ignition across to the match head.

白磷在空气中会进行燃烧，然后就点燃了火柴头。

Sounds like we have a chemical reaction thing going?

听起来里面有些化学反应的门道？

That's right.

的确如此。

This starts a chemical reaction that uses the oxidizing agent on the match to produce oxygen gas.

这个过程中引发了一场化学反应，在这个反应中火柴上的氧化剂产生了氧气。

Combined with the heat, the oxygen gas causes the sulfur to catch fire, which then spreads to the wood of the match.

与足够的热量相混合后，氧气引发硫磺着火，之后火苗就会逐渐延伸到火柴另一端的木制部分。

A strike anywhere match works⁶ almost the same way, except the red phosphorus is included in the match head.

那种在任何地方都能点燃的火柴，和这种安全火柴的工作原理都是基本相同的，但是这种火柴的火柴头上就含有红磷。

So, a strike anywhere match can be lit by striking the match against any hard surface.

因此，只要将这种火柴的火柴头与硬物表面进行摩擦就可以燃烧。

1 striking   

adj.显著的，惹人注目的，容貌出众的

参考例句：

• There is a striking difference between Jane and Mary.简和玛丽之间有显著的差异。
• What is immediately striking is how resourceful the children are.最令人注目的是孩子们的机智聪明。

2 sulfur   

n.硫，硫磺（=sulphur）

参考例句：

• Sulfur emissions from steel mills become acid rain.炼钢厂排放出的硫形成了酸雨。
• Burning may produce sulfur oxides.燃烧可能会产生硫氧化物。

3 scrapes   

n.擦痕( scrape的名词复数 )；困境v.刮( scrape的第三人称单数 )；艰难取得；挖洞；把头发拢在后面

参考例句：

• How did you get a few scrapes on your knee? 你膝盖上的几处擦伤是怎么弄的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She gets into these silly scrapes because she doesn't think before she acts. 她在行动之前总不思考，所以才会陷入这种荒唐的窘境。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 rub   

n.摩擦，困难，障碍，难点，磨损处；vt.擦，搓，摩擦，惹怒；vi.摩擦，擦破

参考例句：

• Don't let the wire rub up against the pipe.别让电线碰到管子上。
• He used to rub up against many famous movie stars.他过去经常偶然碰到许多有名的影星。

5 ignites   

点燃，引发( ignite的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Gas ignites very easily. 汽油易燃。
• The rock and roll ignites the excitement of the audience. 摇滚乐激起了观众的热情。

6 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。